Goals and Core Values
- To promote access to learning that will provide educational and employment opportunities for all South Africans and particularly for South Africans from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, thus supporting transformation and redress.
- To create learning environments that will expose all students to the real and various contexts within which they will ultimately practice
- To promote and foster respect within our students for the abilities, capabilities and potential of the people with various disabilities that they will come to serve
- To foster independent and critical thinking and reasoning amongst our students in order for them to adequately advocate for those they are to serve
- To promote and foster tolerance and respect for multilingualism, diverse cultures and religions and diverse social values.
- To promote and instill an awareness of and respect for sound ethical practice and social responsibility in a complex and diverse society
- To create graduates who are able to provide a sensitive , effective and person-centered service in their various areas of expertise in communication and human occupation.
- To create graduates who are specifically tuned to the unique health needs of the Southern African context as it applies to their various areas of expertise.
- To train students to become advocates and agents for the correct implementation of health policy and legislation
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- To pursue under and post graduate research which is appropriate and essential to advancing/promoting the capacity of the discipline in serving clients
- To promote the development of post graduate research programmes that provide the necessary expertise to meet specific health needs with the national and global arena
Vision:
To be a leader in Audiology scholarship in the region and in the greater African continent.
Mission:
To become a dynamic and socially responsible training, service and research facility that provides programmes that are internationally competitive whilst being relevant to the South African context, and which prepares students for excellence in audiology practice.
To train hearing health care professionals in the field of Audiology, this is a scarce skills profession in South Africa. To produce Audiologists who are equipped with an understanding, theoretical background and clinical expertise to provide basic and advanced audiological assessment and management to a diverse, multi-lingual multi-cultural populations in different contexts within a multidisciplinary team. Internationally, Audiology is a growing profession; thus resulting in an increased number of undergraduate applications received over the past years.
The demand for audiological services is rapidly increasing due to the increased disease burden as well as an aging population requiring audiological management. This is further demonstrated by the increasing number of Audiologists employed by the Department of Health. With the advancement in technology, together with advancement in research, the scope of practice for audiologists has expanded and includes assessment and management of hearing and hearing related disorders.
Furthermore this is the only university on the eastern seaboard offering this degree.
The Discipline is involved in the:
- Prevention, identification, and evaluation of hearing and hearing disorders
- The selection , evaluation and fitting of hearing aids
- Rehabilitation and/or habilitation of people with hearing impairments
Where do Audiologists practice?
Audiologists can practice in the public or private sector in any of the following contexts:
- Community hospitals and health care facilities
- University academic teaching departments and clinics
- Industry and Military settings (occupational noise management)
- Educational settings, i.e. mainstream and special schools
How can you become an Audiologist?
- The Bachelor of Audiology is offered in the School of Health Sciences. It takes four academic years of study to complete the degree.
- All students are required to register with the Health Professions Council of South Africa in their first year of study.